How much faster are optical computers?
A new optical switch is, at 1 trillion operations per second, between 100 and 1,000 times faster than today’s leading commercial electronic transistors, research that may one day help lead to a new generation of computers based on light instead of electricity, say scientists in Russia and at IBM.
How does an optical transistor work?
An optical transistor, also known as an optical switch or a light valve, is a device that switches or amplifies optical signals. Light occurring on an optical transistor’s input changes the intensity of light emitted from the transistor’s output while output power is supplied by an additional optical source.
What do you mean by optical communication?
Optical communication, also known as optical telecommunication, is communication at a distance using light to carry information. The earliest basic forms of optical communication date back several millennia, while the earliest electrical device created to do so was the photophone, invented in 1880.
How has optical technology made life better?
Laser-based and infrared sensing technologies are improving auto safety and combating public health threats and international terrorism. Optical innovations bring inexpensive and efficient alternative energy to rural and developing areas without access to electricity.
What are the advantages of optical computing?
The theoretical advantages of optical computing are numerous, including greater energy efficiency, potentially much higher computing speeds, and greater information storage. However, such promises have been looming on the horizon for many decades now.
What is the difference between an electronic and optical computer?
Electric currents must be guided around each other, and this makes three-dimensional wiring necessary. Thus, an optical computer, besides being much faster than an electronic one, might also be smaller. Some engineers think optical computing will someday be common, but most agree that transitions will occur in specialized areas one at a time.
What is optical computer (photonic computer)?
What is optical computer (photonic computer)? – Definition from WhatIs.com An optical computer (also called a photonic computer) is a device that uses the photons in visible light or infrared ( IR ) beams,rather than electric current, to perform digital computations. An electric current flows at only about 10 percent of the speed of light.
What is the history of optical computing?
As bleeding edge as the prospect of optical computing may seem, the technology has been in development for many decades. The interest in optical computing began in the 1960’s and peaked in the 1980’s with developments of optical computer parts by Bell Labs.